


The Academy

by Tiche



Category: Sherlock - Fandom
Genre: Academy, Elements, Eventual Johnlock, M/M, Magic, Magic AU, school au, sherlock/john
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-22
Updated: 2017-01-22
Packaged: 2018-09-19 07:50:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9428165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tiche/pseuds/Tiche
Summary: Not all stories have heroes. It's not all simple, not just black and white.When the Earth needs saving, it saves itself. Almost like a reset mechanism, hence its name 'The Reset'. However, The Reset needs to be survived in order for life to be sustained and nurtured once more.What will John and Sherlock get up to at Mygat Academy, the only training school for the Earth's chosen survivors. Surely trouble will follow them? Only one way to find out.





	

_The Beginning_

John was always exceedingly normal. He grew up in a loving family home, had a relatively large group of friends and did what he could to make life go a little smoother for them. More often than not, that generally meant spending his time helping his parents on their farm. It wasn't the biggest, but it provided enough sustenance and earnings for his family to live comfortably, especially during the winter. However, it did mean that each year panned out the same way; planning for planting, waiting for harvest and then a whole lot of market time.

It was during the harvest season when the impossible happened. Well, it obviously wasn't impossible, of course. Otherwise it never would have happened in the first place. No one quite thinks that it will happen to themselves though, nor anyone that they knew. So it came as a bit of a shock to everyone in Hobson town when John changed from the exceedingly normal boy that everyone knew, into something a little more abnormal.

The sunny June day gave no hints or clues about the events that were about to unfold. John was returning from the main wheat field where he was helping his father to harvest and had almost arrived home when he lost consciousness. Upon waking, he found himself tucked up in his own bed with no idea of how he had arrived there. Confused, but happy to place the blame on too much sun, John decided to head to the kitchen and find one of his parents. It was not until his mother, upon hearing movement, had rushed into his bedroom and ushered him back into his bed that it dawned on him.

"I'm one of them?" He asked.

His mother had simply smiled sadly whilst smoothing his hair back from his forehead. That was all the confirmation he had needed, so he rolled onto his side and closed his eyes, hoping that his mother would leave and that he could be alone with his thoughts.

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One thing that John had learnt was that being different from everyone else made it stupidly difficult to fit in. It bugged him to no end. It wasn't as if he had changed, well not much anyway. Fortunately for John, the 'incident' seemed to have had very little effect on him as far as he was aware. Unfortunately for John, the one thing that had changed since the 'incident' was about as noticeable as it could get. For some reason, one that he was very happy to ignore and wish away, his eyes would occasionally jump from the blue that they have always been to a very striking, rather luminous grey. This had caused much murmuring and hushed gossiping to spread like wildfire around Hobson town. Whilst this was relatively innocent and easy to ignore at first, it soon became less so. John's fellow town dwellers wasted no time in creating wild and wicked stories for the abnormal thing that he had become. It wasn't very long before they stumbled across the truth and realised that all of the unease that they felt when around John was well placed after all.

Whispers were spread, telling tales of an ancient disaster and those few who survived. Those which were chosen to survive, who were able to do strange things; able to control that which was not meant to be tame. Eyes which flickered to different colours as they used unnatural means to achieve their goals.

John stopped going into Hobson town and started to avoid leaving the farm at all costs. Even going as far as refusing to accompany his father to the market to sell their produce. Instead he would offer to do handiwork around the family farm, fixing small problems such as the broken fence he was currently working on. The fence had been damaged by their horse, a grey Shire mare called Bess, which he had found trotting around their yard earlier in the day. It wasn't taking him long to fix, but he was being distracted by Bess because she kept nudging his arm repeatedly in between mouthfuls of food from the food sack he had set up. After the fourth time, he finally gave up and dropped his hammer onto the grass.

"What is it, girl?" he asked, wiping the back of his hand across his brow and standing up.

It was a hot day, the sun was almost in the middle of the sky and there were few clouds to be seen. John decided it was probably best to take Bess into a more shaded area, given the temperate was still on the rise. He untied her from the fence and picked up the food sack, waving it slightly in an attempt to coax the mare to follow him.

There was an old Oak tree in the middle of the mares paddock, the thick branches spanning half of the field in every direction and plunging most of the field into shade from the sun. It was a spot that had seen many generations of the Watson family relaxing with a book or a picnic. It was this tree to which John tied the mare, making sure she was securely fastened before turning to head back to the broken fence he was working on. As he crossed the field, he heard shouts coming from the small orchard just off to one side of the field and stopped in his tracks. He frowned and peered towards where he heard the commotion, trying to find the intruders. People should not be on the farm, and they should definitely not be in the orchard. He couldn't see anyone, but there was no way that he had imagined what he had heard, so he started to head towards the neat rows of fruit trees. It wasn't hard for John to find the intruders once he had gotten to the first line of Pear trees. The voices got louder and more animated as he got closer, allowing him to pinpoint their location and see three boys around his age picking fruit and putting it into a large grey sack.

"Hey!" he shouted, changing from a walk to a brisk jog when the boys startled and started to make a run for it.

"This is private property, what do you think you are doing?"

The boys kept running but dropped the sack in their haste to get away. John followed them until he could see the fence border around their farm and watched them climb over it. He then went to collect the sack full of pears and headed back towards the house with the intention of putting the sack of pears aside for his parents to sell at market. As he cleared the last line of trees, he realized that it wasn't about the fruit at all. It was a distraction - they were trying to steal their horse!

John full out sprinted towards the field gate where a man was tugging Bess onto the dirt track that would lead out of the farm and into town. He could tell that he wouldn't reach the track in enough time to stop the man, so he placed his thumb and middle finger into his mouth and whistled. A black and white blur came running out of the house and ran towards him.

"Get him, Cassie!" he shouted, giving the sheep-dog permission to attack the man stealing their only way of cultivating the fields.

Cassie changed directions and ran towards the thief instead, pouncing at him and snapping at his hands. John was still sprinting towards the commotion when the thief kicked at Cassie and he heard a whelp and saw her being thrown back by the force of his kick. 

"Cassie!" he shouted, rage and hatred for the man filling him with an all-consuming fire.

The thief had managed to get out of the gate and onto the track, and John was still too far away. That's when it happened.

The once clear sky had started to rapidly cloud over, bringing with it a strong wind from the South. Cassie was attempting to pick herself up but couldn't manage it without being in obvious pain. This only helped to fuel John's rage up a notch, and with this added rage the wind started to swirl around and then pummel into the thief, knocking him off of Bess just as he reached him. This made Bess whinny and run off down the dirt track towards town, but John didn't notice.

His focus was tunnelled onto the thief as he pounced on top of him and wrestled his arms behind his back, placing his knee into the centre of his back and grinding him into the dirt.

"How dare you!" he hissed through his teeth. He was overcome with a desire to hurt this man that was completely at his mercy and whimpering into the dirt. It was this desire that shook John to the core. He was not a violent person. This was not something that he would take pleasure in, and he did not know what had come over him.

It was in the middle of his disbelief and shock when his parents appeared beside him and his mother dragged him away into the comfort of his home. They had been travelling home from the markets and found Bess running towards them and looking distressed. His mother had started to run towards the farm, expecting there to be something wrong and his father had followed closely behind, only stopping to grab the rope lead that was luckily still attached to Bess' harness.

John was gently forced into a chair at the wooden table in the centre of the kitchen. It was solid Oak, carved from a fallen tree by one of the previous occupants, one of his ancestors. A warm cup was placed into his hands, tea made by his mother using the ever-boiling pot of water hung over the stove.

She bustled around the kitchen with an eased precision, taking things from various cupboards to prepare for supper. Every now and again she would glance out of the window, a frown appearing on her face. She tried to hide this from John, but he knew better. His father didn't hold a non-violent stance on life like he did. He knew what was happening outside of his quaint little farm house.

After a while his father walked in through the door, Cassie limping alongside him. It was Cassie that made John move from the position he was guided into, sliding out of his chair and onto the floor to better check over her injuries.

She appeared to be fine, nothing was broken but there would most likely be bruising given the force of the earlier kick. He pulled her closer and onto his lap, stroking the fur on the back of her neck. She nuzzled her nose into his jaw and huffed a blast of warm air into his ear - I'm okay, don't worry about me.

He didn't cry often, but the emotional whiplash of the day and his fear for Cassie being hurt was too much. So he buried his head into her soft fur and he sobbed.

Later that evening, John was preparing for bed when his mother knocked on his bedroom door and poked her head into his room. 

"There's someone here to see you," she said, giving him a once over to ensure he was still dressed in day clothes. "I'll send him up, it's important you speak to him alone."

John was baffled, he didn't get many visitors and none of them came at night requesting a private audience. He had never even had his friends in his bedroom before, let alone a complete stranger.

He sat on his bed as he heard the aged staircase creak under the strangers weight. When his door was pushed open and he entered the room, John got his first look and was instantly wary. He was right to be so, because when the mans eyes met his, milky white finding clear blue, they changed from that milky white to a hazelnut colour and John just knew.

"You are going to take me away, aren't you?" he asked.

He didn't even need to wait for the confirmation to know that this was the last night he would spend sleeping in his own home.

"My name is Mike, and I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news." Mike said. He had walked across John's room and stood at his window, peering out into the darkening horizon through the smallest sliver of curtain fabric.

"We need to leave early tomorrow morning. You should gather your things, bring enough for a couple of days on the road."

"What are you looking for?" John replied, curious as to why Mike was being so alert. If there was something to be concerned about, he should warn his family.

"These are troubled times. People do not like to find new things that they do not understand, maybe never can understand. This is why you need to join us at the Academy, we can help you to access and control your abilities. We can keep you safe, and keep them safe." Mike had continued to stare out into the dark, adding a sense of urgency and danger to his explanation.

"So it's true then," John asked, "I've been chosen?"

"Yes, which is why it is very important that you do not make this any harder than it has to be. We will be leaving in the morning at first light. You do not need to pack, your mother has been very helpful"

John was surprised at this. "Wait, how is that even possible? You haven't been here that long-"

"I've been communicating with your mother for a while, it has taken some time for me to travel here. The roads are somewhat... unpleasant of late." Mike cuts in, turning around to face John. "I know this is a lot, but please just make sure you are prepared to leave. I have some important matters to discuss further with your parents, so if you'll excuse me."

Mike closed the curtains, ensuring there was no gaps in the material and then left the room, heading to the kitchen where John's parents were waiting.

John was left sitting on his bed and feeling numb. He had no idea what any of this meant for him, or for his family. He only knew that his life had changed so much in such a short space of time, and tomorrow would begin the start of something completely and utterly alien. He had no idea if his old life would remain relevant or if this was the last night he would ever see his family again. With his mind spinning and his mood darkening, John lay back and waited for sleep to take him.

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End file.
